Comments Thread For: Claressa Shields Still Mulling Possibility of Turning Pro

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Amateur star Claressa Shields says she's still weighing her options about whether to turn pro. The two-time Olympic gold medalist threw out the ceremonial first pitch Monday night when the Detroit Tigers hosted the Minnesota Twins. Shields, a Flint native, won her second gold at this year's Rio Olympics.
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[TheBoxingXpert]

She should definetely turn pro. She is very talented.

[djt117]

If Haymon could go to a handful of the big stars in women's amateur boxing and made them a good offer to turn pro, on the condition that the offer only stands if they all accept, then he could start putting them on undercards (like Don King did in the 90s) and eventually match some of them together in main events (after building them up).

When you're trying to make a play for the mainstream audience (as PBC is doing), that'd be a great way to tap into a new audience and expand the appeal.

Let's be honest, 99% of women don't watch boxing. But what if you could pique their interest?

You get someone like Claressa Shields, with a compelling life story and a "strong woman" image--someone who was dealt a poor hand in life and who "pulled herself by her bootstraps" to win 2 Gold medals ... you get her an appearance on The View and on a couple of the late-night shows prior to her fights and get her name out there ... and you might well get women to tune in (particularly the athletic, "sporty chick" types who run half-marathons and stuff like that (I could see my girlfriend finding that interesting / appealing for example).

She was with me when I watched Pac-Bradley III in a bar and she told me that she still remembered when she was little and her dad "ordered a couple of the Tyson fights" and she saw "a female boxer" on the undercard and being interested (the boxer I assume she was talking about was "The Coal Miner's Daughter" Christy Martin, who appeared on several Tyson undercards).

She said, "how come you never see women's boxing on TV anymore these days?"

Good question. I figure if her interest was drawn as a young girl by seeing another girl fight on TV (after all, she still remembered it 20 years later), why couldn't that interest be resurrected--now as an adult in the coveted 18-34 demographic--right now in 2016?